Texas Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas - Angels General Manager Jerry Dipoto addressed a wide range of topics before Thursday night's 6-5 walk-off loss to the Texas Rangers, but he wouldn't touch the one that is foremost on everyone's mind: his job status. "I'm not going to get into it," said Dipoto, the subject of heavy speculation since early August when the Angels, who opened the season with World Series aspirations, fell out of playoff contention. "I don't want to have this conversation.

Whenever the Yankees don't make the World Series and, hey, it happens, those who pay attention to baseball's television ratings have a sort of doomsday feeling, as if the entire world will all be watching "Dancing With the Stars" or any NFL game instead. And it's true. The Yankees get the ratings. In 2009, when the Yankees played the Phillies, the World Series averaged over 19 million viewers for the six-game series including just over 22 million viewers for the final game.

Vladimir Guerrero returns to the scene of his prime, wondering whether he will be vilified in the place where he created so many special memories. Guerrero, the American League's most valuable player in 2004, hit 173 home runs in six seasons with the Angels but now wears the blue (and occasionally red) of the rival Texas Rangers. "I don't know what the reaction will be when I'm back for the first time," Guerrero, speaking through an interpreter, told reporters in Texas on Sunday as the Rangers prepared for a series against the Angels that starts Tuesday in Anaheim.

If new Texas designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero is bitter about the way his distinguished six-year career with the Angels came to an end, he hid those feelings well on Monday, when he faced his former team for the first time. Though there were conversations between the Angels and Guerrero's agent this winter, the Angels did not make a formal contract offer to the 35-year-old slugger, opting instead to sign Hideki Matsui to a one-year, $6-million deal to be their DH. Guerrero's one-year, $6.5-million deal with the Rangers includes a $9-million mutual option for 2011.

It's only fitting for a World Series being played amid a high-stakes political campaign. Major League Baseball announced Friday that not one but two former presidents -- George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush -- will throw out the ceremonial first pitches Sunday before Game 4 of the 2010 Fall Classic at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Many had suspected that the younger Bush could be called on for the honors, but it seems baseball opted for a Texas two-step by inviting both former commanders-in-chief.

Here's another way the rich are different: They have more bathrooms. Real estate brokers who cater to the moneyed say their clients typically want homes that have at least two bathrooms for every bedroom. And with spacious tubs, floor lamps, dressing areas and seating, some bathrooms rival bedrooms in size. "The bathroom has become the dressing room," said Bob Ray Offenhauser, a Studio City-based residential architect who routinely encloses the shower and toilet in their own rooms within a room.

The owner of the reigning NBA champions will not be the next owner of the Dodgers. Mark Cuban was eliminated from the Dodgers' ownership sweepstakes Friday, along with baseball executive and former agent Dennis Gilbert, according to two people familiar with the process but not authorized to discuss it. At least eight bidders advanced to the second round Friday, including a group led by Magic Johnson and veteran baseball executive Stan Kasten...